Below 0C (32F) Hardware possibility

**VmtSquad** · 12-08-2008, 02:13 PM

Hi guys, I know I'm not the first one to post on this topic but I couldn't find any direct suggestion to my problem.

I live in Montreal and we are experiencing some -30C right now. I tried to warm up the car for about 30 min ( on the road) before trying to start but it coudnt find some files in windows....I guess some bearing from my 3.5'' HDD didnt like the cold.

My setup: I got my PC installed in the trunk and it can get very cold even when the car is started.

I know that the parts that will be aftected by cold temperature will be mecanical parts like HDD or Screen. What is the best option to help me boot my system under cold temps ??

1 - Get some money for a computer HDD (Seagate EE25)
2 - Buy a 8Gb USB drive and manage to install xp on it with RR....

Wich of this options in your opinion is the best route???

Any suggestion will be welcome!!

**dyne** · 12-08-2008, 02:28 PM

I've been booting off a 4gb lexar 300x CF card for the past few months. This morning was the coldest it's been this winter (5F) and my carputer booted up no problem (though the LCD didn't turn on the first try, I had to unplug and plug it back in)

**nobb** · 12-08-2008, 02:49 PM

Until SSDs become better, I would normally say an automotive grade drive is the answer. However, right now tigerdirect.ca has a 64gb ocz ssd for sale, only about $130CAD and $2 shipping within Canada.

**VmtSquad** · 12-09-2008, 12:08 AM

I just got a 8Gb kingston CF, I'll give this a try and I'll simply get a automotive Samsung if this is not working. Will keep you guys updated on the weather factor.

**Injector** · 12-09-2008, 12:16 AM

has anyone thought about a heater, not a house heater because that will cause a fire, but what about one of the heaters made for nitrous bottles? they look like a blanket and are designed to be in cars.

http://www.mpsracing.com/products/NOS/no01k.asp

of course i shouldn't even be posting here because in Florida it rarely ever goes below 30F

**jmbickham** · 12-09-2008, 12:27 AM

Personally... I would think that the SSD would be less trouble to work with than CF or USB. Automotive HDD haven't impressed me with their capacity and price...

**_Dejan_** · 12-09-2008, 01:33 AM

I have in my carpc 2 SSD and I don't have boot problem under 0°C but under 0°C I have problem with LCD, sometimes I cant turn it on and back light only blink...

**Maheriano** · 12-09-2008, 11:08 AM

I'm in Calgary, when it hits -40 here my hard drive won't spin either. I'm thinking about getting one of those OCZ solid state drives, I only use about 20 gigs in my car anyway.

**Bugbyte** · 12-09-2008, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by jmbickham

Personally... I would think that the SSD would be less trouble to work with than CF or USB. Automotive HDD haven't impressed me with their capacity and price...

They are lower capacity, but they can handle a wider temperature range. You can load the main stuff on the automotive drive and other stuff on a non-hardened drive.

**BCasey** · 12-10-2008, 03:46 PM

What I am thinking of doing is having a Seagate EE25 with my front end, drivers, music, videos etc. Aswell as a 2GB usb stick with XP on it, front end, drivers but no music or videos.

What I wanna do is set the boot priority to the Seagate first, then the USB stick second. In theory what I want will be if the HD doesnt work then ti will boot from the usb and I'll have an identical setup minus the music and videos so i can at least use the cd rom / radio.

But after reading ur post it found the HD just nto some files so this might nto work either.

(I'm in Ottawa BTW so it gets cold here aswell)

EDIT:
Another option might be put windows, drivers on USB drive and have a BIG Hard drive with all ur music on it so at least u can boot in the cold (since its on the usb). and when it warms up u can use the music from the HD